Mohawk roughs up Hopkins, 16-1

Mahar catcher Jed Richards' tag on Greenfield baserunner Jourdan York-Welcome (6) is too late on a throw from second base Wednesday in Orange, where the host Senators beat the visiting Green Wave, 6-4, in their Hampshire League baseball game.
Recorder/Mike Phillips

It was one of those statement-like kind of games for the Mohawk Trail Regional High School baseball team Wednesday.

The Warriors piled up 18 hits in 5 2/ 3 innings and mercy-ruled Hopkins Academy in a Hampshire League baseball game in Buckland.

The Golden Hawks entered the day 5-2 overall and were one of the favorites in the Hampshire West Division this season, but the Warriors (4-3 overall) scored in every inning but the first, and when Mohawk scored its third run of the sixth inning, the game was called due to the mercy rule.

Hopkins took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first when Jake Kosakowski reached base, stole second and third, and scored on Zach Kelley’s single.

Mohawk scored twice in the second inning and opened up for five more in the third. The offensive explosion continued with two runs in the fourth, four in the fifth and three in the sixth. Andrew Doty finished with four hits, including a triple, and two RBIs, while Stephen Reynolds added three hits and two RBIs. Mark Buck finished with three hits, including a triple, driving in a run and scoring three times, Javier Morales tripled and drove in two runs, and Luke Looman singled and plated two runs.

That was plenty of run support for sophomore pitcher Gabe Seaver, who showed glimpses of his famous great uncle (former New York Mets pitcher Tom Seaver) as he mowed down nine Hopkins hitters in five innings of work. Perhaps as important, Seaver did not walk a batter and combined with reliever Lukas Markham on a five-hitter.

“Something was in the air tonight,” Mohawk coach Bill Buck said. “It was a great offensive show and Gabe pitched the game of his life. He kept the ball around the plate and our defense backed him up.”

Brett Morrison struck out four and walked one in three innings to suffer the loss.

Mahar 6, Greenfield 4 — Mahar Regional School scored three times in the bottom of the third inning, and pitchers Drew Patria and Ryan Arsenault combined on a three-hitter as the Senators defeated Greenfield High School, 6-4, in a baseball game Wednesday afternoon in Orange.

The Senator pitchers did have to work around a combined 10 walks. Patria worked the first four innings and allowed just one hit but did walk eight batters, while Arsenault pitched the final three innings and earned the save, striking out one, while allowing two hits and two walks.

The Senators (4-4) struck for one run in the bottom of the first inning when Logan Barrett and Jake Paul hit back-to-back two-out doubles, with Barrett scoring on Paul’s two-bagger. Greenfield came back to tie the game in the top of the third inning, when Parker Hickey led off with a walk and later scored on a wild pitch.

The tie was short-lived because Mahar got to Green Wave starting pitcher Connor Zabko in the bottom of the third inning for three runs to take the lead. Brendin Woodard led off the inning with a single and scored on an RBI single by Paul. Arsenault followed that with a single, and he and Paul came around to score on Patria’s two-run single to left.

Greenfield did not go away quietly, scoring twice in the fourth inning, including one on an RBI single by Andrew Toritto, but Mahar tacked on two more runs in the sixth inning, including one on a sacrifice fly from Woodard. Greenfield scored once in the top of the seventh inning, but Arsenault got Tyler Jacques to fly out to left and end the game.

Zabko suffered the loss, striking out one and walking one in 32/ 3 innings, while Owen Schilling struck out one and walked three in 21/ 3 innings of relief.

Turners Falls 7, Smith Academy 0 — Nick York pitched six shutout innings and Turners Falls High School blew things open with six runs in the top of the seventh inning to blank Smith Academy, 7-0, in baseball action Wednesday in Hatfield.

York found himself matched up in a pitcher’s duel with Smith Academy hurler Kevin Banas and the game remained scoreless after four innings. The Indians (4-2), winners of two in a row, finally broke through in the top of the fifth inning, when Marcel Ortiz singled and later scored on a wild pitch. It was part of a solid day at the plate for the Indians’ leadoff hitter, who finished with four hits and afterward earned praise from coach Jay Liimatainen.

“It was good to see that out of him,” Liimatainen began. “He’s got a great swing. He’s had some tough luck to start the year, but today they were falling in for him.”

Turners blew the game open in the seventh inning with six runs. Trent Bourbeau opened the inning with a single and Zach Wright doubled him in before Zach Demars launched an RBI triple to the gap in left-center. Quinn Doyle drove in Demars with a single and, after Ortiz singled to put a pair of runners on, both came home on Brody Markol’s two-run triple. Markol scored the final run of the game on a passed ball.

That gave the Indians some breathing room and helped York to the win. The junior struck out four and walked four in six innings before Doyle struck out one in the seventh to close out the win.

“Nick throws strikes and always keeps you in the game,” Liimatainen said of his pitcher. “He battled through some arm soreness, and with three games in three days, he really toughed it out for us.”

Tony Pedruczny finished with two hits, including a double, to lead Smith Academy. Banas finished with seven strikeouts and two walks in six innings. Reliever Keith Natale struck out two in the seventh.

Frontier 13, Easthampton 2 — Ben Ruddock had another dominant start for Frontier Regional School, but the Red Hawks’ offense could have survived even if Ruddock didn’t have his best stuff by piling up 13 hits and scoring 13 runs to dump Easthampton High School, 13-2, in a HL tilt Wednesday in Easthampton.

Ruddock was masterful against the Eagles in five innings of work, giving up just one hit and no walks while striking out five. He left with a 13-0 lead after five innings and Evan Bourque came on to pitch the final two innings, striking out one and allowing three hits and two runs, both in the seventh.

The game was long-since decided by that point, as Frontier got to Easthampton pitchers Hunter Levielle and Erik Fickett for 13 runs. Levielle went the first four innings, giving up eight runs on six hits and four walks, while Fickett did not fare much better, allowing five runs on seven hits and two walks.

Seth Gewanter had a big day for Frontier with four hits, while Sean Doyle and Ruddock both added two hits and three RBIs. Niko Ames had a pair of singles and one run batted in, Matt Ackerman singled and drove in a run, and Bourque had two hits, including a double.

Athol 5, Belchertown 4 — Athol High School built a 5-0 lead and held off a late charge from Belchertown High School to take a 5-4 baseball victory Wednesday afternoon in Athol.

The Red Raiders staked pitcher Bryce Melanson to a 5-0 lead through four innings but the Orioles came back to score three times off the sophomore in the fifth inning. Melanson pitched a scoreless sixth inning before Jerry Parker and Brad Bousquet combined to close things out. Parker came on in the seventh and struck out one but allowed two walks and one run. Bousquet struck out the final two batters to save the game.

Athol (2-3) scored once in the first inning as Bousquet led off with a walk and scored on an Alex Page RBI single. The Red Raiders struck for two more runs in the third on Jake Lapointe’s two-run double, and then added two more runs in the fifth, both coming on back-to-back errors in the inning.

Melanson finished up with seven strikeouts and four walks in six innings.

“We needed a lot of innings out of him today and he stayed out there and battled,” Athol coach Josh Talbot said. “He’s been rock solid for us and the fact that he’s only a sophomore in high school is pretty amazing.”

Belchertown came back with three in the fifth, including two runs on Jake Mastorakis’ triple to right field. Joe Camerota took the loss for the Orioles, striking out four and walking two in four innings.

Andrew Poor tripled for Athol, and Bousquet added a double.

Westfield V-T 5, FC Tech 2 — It was that kind of a day for Franklin County Technical School.

Westfield Vocational-Technical High School scored three times in the first inning without the courtesy of a hit and the Tigers went on to record a 5-2 Tri-County League victory Wednesday in Westfield.

Things did not start out well for Franklin Tech pitcher Kyle Johnson, who could not find the strike zone and walked four batters in the first inning. Conner Hebda and Nick Clegg opened the bottom of the first inning with back-to-back walks and Hebda came around to score on the second of two wild pitches issued by Johnson. Reid Phillips and Tyler French then walked to load the bases and both came in on back-to-back balks.

“It’s never a good thing when you give up three runs to the first-place team in your league without giving up a hit,” Franklin Tech coach Brian Winslow said. “Kyle obviously struggled a little to find his rhythm, but that’s baseball.”

Johnson came back out for the second inning but issued a walk to Hebda and was replaced by Ethan Wickline, who allowed the runner to score but settled down from there to give the Eagles a shot to come back. Wickline pitched five innings, striking out two and walking no one, while allowing just five hits.

“Ethan came in and really gave us a chance to battle back,” Winslow said. “He wasn’t planning on pitching today and pitched really well in relief. He deserves a lot of credit for that.”

The Eagles finally broke through against Tiger starter Clegg for a pair of runs in the sixth inning as Johnson and Cooper Grace each hit RBI singles. That was all the visitors could muster against Clegg, who went the distance and finished with three strikeouts against no walks and four hits.